Remarks at the Farewell Banquet of the Assembly of the World's
Religions

Sun Myung MoonNovember 20, 1985

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I hope all of you have enjoyed
this Farewell Banquet and this Assembly as much as Mrs. Moon and I
have. It seems like we first gathered together for this historic
conference as strangers to one another and now, even as we have come
to recognize that we are truly brothers and sisters. It is time to
depart. But this does not need to be a sad moment if we take it as an
opportunity to carry this spark of renewed brotherhood back to our
own communities of faith.

When I first told my wife I was to convene an Assembly like this
she asked me whether I thought representatives of so many different
religions with such different backgrounds could really get along.
What would happen if they just fought all the time? I reminded her of
our thirteen children -- each one is so different they seldom ever
all agree on anything. Did she really think any of them would rather
be an only child? They are bound together in harmony because they
realize how much their parents love them. So I believed, it would be
the same with us. When we really recognize how much our Parent, God,
loves each of us, how could we fail to get along? And I think we
succeeded rather well, don't you agree?

Of course, my wife was also quick to remind me that a man alone
cannot become a parent by himself. In the Orient, great pearls of
wisdom are passed down in proverbs, like those of Confucius. In
America it seems people do this by bumper stickers. I saw one the
other day which said, "When God created man, she was kidding"

Actually that bumper sticker makes a good point. We haven't always
been able to feel the love of our Creator, because we didn't always
understand that God is both our Father and our Mother. Then, as I see
it, we really are all brothers and sisters.

Even though we have only made a beginning here at this first
Assembly, I believe it will lay the cornerstone for a great new
beginning in world religious harmony. As I reflect on the gathering
of so many religious traditions here at Great Gorge, it is very much
like the gathering of many smaller river branches into one powerful
central stream flowing toward the ocean. Those many branches, from
every direction, are of many different lengths and volumes; they have
flowed through vastly different terrains -- some smooth and serene,
some rocky and torturous. But here, having overcome all obstacles,
the branches come together in one great stream. Indeed, this is a
natural and necessary pattern for life, whether we speak of the
meeting of rivers or religious traditions -- for what hope is there
if there is no point of congregation?

It is true. The coming together of our various traditions and
beliefs, much like the meeting point of the branch rivers with the
main stream, is full of cross currents and sometimes pretty rough
water -- but that is not a bad thing, it is to be expected. In fact,
the river's flow to the great ocean will be stimulated by these many
currents...

For me, that great ocean, the goal of our living river, is the
Kingdom of God on earth. We may call that ocean by many names but it
is One, and it is our common destiny. Again, we may be challenged by
the saltiness of its waters just as we may have been challenged by
coming here. But beyond ourselves let us go forward in faith with
what we have started here.

I would especially like to thank the Planning Committee for their
great effort to organize this meeting. Would you join me in giving
them a hearty round of applause?

And I would like to thank all of you for your enthusiastic
participation. Shall we give ourselves a round of applause?

Finally, I would like to invite all of you to give special thanks
to God who brought us here together out of such diversity. Shall we
give our Creator a round of applause?

God bless you and your work. I pray for your safe return home and
hope we will all meet again in 1989, if not before.